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There are lots of ways to update your kitchen, or even build one from scratch using your own skills and some out-of-the-box thinking. In the end, you'll have a kitchen that is unique to your own style and taste.

The main benefit of choosing a DIY kitchen cabinet project is that you will save a ton of money. You'll pay much less for materials and nothing for labor which will dramatically bring the cost of the overall kitchen renovation down.

One way to create DIY kitchen cabinets is to literally build them from scratch using basic woodworking tools, precise measurements, and the lumber or alternative wood material of your choice. If you are planning on building kitchen cabinets from scratch, you will want to do a lot of initial planning including getting precise measurements of your kitchen space, drawing sketches of your new layout, and collecting the tools and materials ahead of time so you have everything you need to make the project a success.

Another small-scale DIY kitchen cabinet project is refinishing or repainting existing cabinet structures in your kitchen. This project is one that can cost even less than replacing existing cabinets, and it can make a huge change in your existing kitchen. The first thing you'll want to do when painting your existing cabinets is to remove and label all cabinet doors. You'll want to make sure you save all the hardware with the cabinets in an organized manner so they function when the doors are reinstalled. Once the doors are off you'll want to sand and clean the doors so as to remove any existing paint or glaze. You will then prime and paint or stain the cabinet doors as well as the cabinet frames still attached to the wall. Painting the insides of the cabinets is entirely optional; if you prefer to skip that step, you can just tape off the edges and paint the outer parts to save time and money.

Applying faux finishes to painted cabinets can also change the look of cabinets with relatively little time or effort. Distressed paint on cabinets is a very popular look in rustic or country kitchens; it's done with just sandpaper or a sander to create a unique look.

Your final DIY kitchen cabinet project will be to replace the hardware on your existing cabinets. This inexpensive re-facing of existing cabinets makes a surprisingly big impact for a very small cost.